Chiropractor
Peter Morgan had just left Haiti after completing a chiropractic mission there
when the devastating earthquake struck.

"We
just had a calling to go back," said Morgan, a chiropractor on East Boston
Post Road for 25 years and founder of Mission-Chiropractic.

Morgan,
55, got together nine chiropractors and returned to the destroyed country on
Jan. 20 to give out water and rice and offer chiropractic adjustments to the
injured. They also brought five water filtration systems donated by
Connecticut-based KX Technologies.

The
group stayed with a New Rochelle cabdriver, one of Morgan's patients whose
family home was spared, and were shocked when they arrived in Pétionville, a
suburb of Port-au-Prince.

"There
was one house, (then) five houses in rubble, one house, five houses in
rubble," Morgan said.

With
carloads of supplies, Morgan and the other chiropractors visited a partially
collapsed ambulance company that was still trying to operate even as some
workers lay dead under rubble.

Morgan
adjusted ambulance workers who had back and shoulder pain from lifting debris
and patients, and left them with a water filtration system.

They
also came upon a makeshift hospital, where doctors were performing amputations
and stitching without any drugs.

Minnesota
chiropractic student Stephan Moje, who was part of Morgan's group, said that
everywhere they went the stench of death was nearly unbearable.

"The
most shocking thing for me was the smell," he said. "You needed to
cover your mouth with a hankerchief, and you had Tiger balm to put under your
nose."

Heather
Rooks, a chiropractor from Wilmington, Del., said she could feel people's
desperation as they handed out 400 pounds of rice and more than 500 gallons of
water to hundreds of people.

She
recalled riding in the car and being approached by two brothers. When one saw
she had food, his mouth started to quiver with disbelief.

"The
little kids came walking up and said, 'We're hungry. We're hungry,' and all I
had was an apple," she said. "His face was like I had a block of
gold. We gave it to them and said, 'Make sure you share.' The big brother gave
it to the little brother, and he took a bite."

Morgan
said he was struck by people's graciousness. They joined Haitians in singing
hymns and were brought to tears.

"As
we were about to leave, they put us in a circle and prayed for us," Morgan
said. "It was one of the most touching things that happened in my
life."

Morgan
is working on getting support from other chiropractors to continue to send
help.

"The
people were thanking us, and the thing they were saying most of the time was,
'Don't forget us. Please come back. Please help us,' " he recalled.